_Rousseau’s Criticism of St. Pierre._ Rousseau took St. Pierre’s project[45] much more seriously than either Leibniz or Voltaire. But sovereigns, he thought, are deaf to the voice of justice; the absolutism of princely power would never allow a king to submit to a tribunal of nations. Moreover war was, according to Rousseau’s experience, a matter not between nations, but between princes and cabinets. It was one of the ordinary pleasures of royal existence and one not likely to be voluntarily given up.[46] We know that history has not supported Rousseau’s contention. Dynastic wars are now no more. The Great Powers have shown themselves able to impose their own conditions, where the welfare and security of Europe have seemed to demand it. Such a development seemed impossible enough in the eighteenth century. In the military organisation of the nations of Europe and in the necessity of making their internal development subordinate to the care for their external security, Rousseau saw the cause of all the defects in their administration.[47] The formation of unions on the model of the Swiss Confederation or the German _Bund_ would, he thought, be in the interest of all rulers. But great obstacles seemed to him to lie in the way of the realisation of such a project as that of St. Pierre. “Without doubt,” says Rousseau in conclusion, “the proposal of a perpetual peace is at present an absurd one.... It can only be put into effect by methods which are violent in themselves and dangerous to humanity. One cannot conceive of the possibility of a federative union being established, except by a revolution. And, that granted, who among us would venture to say whether this European federation is to be desired or to be feared? It would work, perhaps, more harm in a moment than it would prevent in the course of centuries.” (_Jugement sur la Paix Perpétuelle._) [45] “C’est un livre solide et sensé,” says Rousseau (_Jugement sur la Paix Perpétuelle_), “et il est très important qu’il existe.” [This _Jugement_ is appended to Rousseau’s _Extrait du Projet de Paix Perpétuelle de Monsieur l’Abbé de Saint-Pierre_, 1761.] [46] Cf. Cowper: _The Winter Morning Walk_:— “Great princes have great playthings. Some have play’d At hewing mountains into men, and some At building human wonders mountain high. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Some seek diversion in the tented field, And make the sorrows of mankind their sport. But war’s a game, which, were their subjects wise, Kings should not play at. Nations would do well T’extort their truncheons from the puny hands Of heroes, whose infirm and baby minds Are gratified with mischief, and who spoil, Because men suffer it, their toy the world.”